Tag Archives: Prada

One of the things I love about watching the shows is sussing out the styling. The bigger brands use the best stylists in the biz to tell the ‘story’ of the collection and show how the clothes can be worn, something you’re just never going to get from seeeing pieces hung on a rail. Those Prada tabi socks, the Dries Van Noten layers, the white sunglasses at Rochas, they’re all trends waiting to be translated to the street that will help the designers sell even more of their wares and chances are, those ideas come from the stylist. Continue reading →

Chloe Sevigny’s the face of Miu Miu’s Aw12 campaign, making us nostalgic for the last time she posed for Miu Miu in 1996. I prefer the 1996 version; those flat planes of colour, sandals and slacks are suddenly looking quite contemporary and chanelling the vibe of Prada’s SS13 menswear collection. Will Miuccia take a cue from menswear for SS13 and deliver something similar for Miu Miu womenswear SS13?

Last week I got sent the first gripping ‘episode’ of Peroni Collaborazioni, the fashion project I’m working on with Shaun Samson. Together we’re creating a piece that defines Italian style which will be showcased in November. So what is Italian style? I started off thinking about knitwear (spurred by Shaun’s graduate collection that melded knits, plaids and denim so expertly together) which took me back to the golden age of Benetton’s rainbow coloured vision and Missoni’s iconic zig zags. Then I got hooked on the idea of the eccentrics: Schiaparelli, Anna Piaggi, Moschino, because I love wit and humour in fashion. Then the classic luxe heritage of Italian style as personified by Armani, Gucci and Fendi’s fabulous furs took hold. But in the end, after much debate, we arrived at a different place.

Shaun’s work so far has been very much about textile innovation; he’s an experimentor who loves to play around and let the magic happen of its own accord. I love the way the modern-day eccentrics like Prada and Marni play with textiles, juxtaposing mad combinations together, demonstrated so beautifully this season in Prada’s pailette-fake-fur-snakeskin-lurex texture-clash. Having access to our super-knowledgable Italian fashion consultant Anna Battista has also been quite the eye opener. In one of our email exchanges, she sent me the following:

“People usually think it’s the designer who is the genius, but in Italy it was often the case that the unassuming textile designer was the real genius behind a fashion collection, especially in the heyday of Italian fashion. Many textile manufacturers in the Prato area (who closed their business after the crisis) were actually as skilled and talented as the fashion designers themselves and came up with amazing fabrics. I think in Italy you have fashion designers who are great fabric connoisseurs such as Valentino and Giorgio Armani, but also fashion designers who experimented with fabrics in great ways such as Roberto Capucci or Walter Albini.

“Emilio Pucci who’s more known for his kaleidosopic prints even patented his own fabric called Emilioform, while accessory designers such as Salvatore Ferragamo pushed things further, experimenting with materials as varied as invisible thread, candy wrappings, cork and even gold in his shoes. In more recent years we have seen interesting surface elaborations at Fendi (well they have great knowledge there about leather and fur…) that merged Burri’s burnt paintings with fashion. Gianni Versace also mixed plastic/PVC and silk to obtain lurid effects (that some critics deemed as rather kitsch) and patented the oroton, a sort of metal mesh fabric imitating chain mail that could be draped, dyed or printed.”

Hello, who knew Versace invented that chain mail fabric (that is quite prominent in the forthcoming Versace X H&M collab by the way)? Certainly not me! So we have gone in the direction of labour-intensive fabric experimentation, which is obviously Shaun’s forte. And we have gone for the sensible option of creating a simple piece which will let the fabric do the talking. There are only a few weeks left to complete the project so time is of the essence. For now, let me leave you with this wee write-up of the project in The Guardian…

Anna’s footwear of choice looks to be returning from the fashion doldrums. Spotted at Fendi and Prada, it’s the latest bad-taste shoe to be reincarnated as the subversively cool option. What do you say – eek or chic?

One of the many benefits of being freelance (aside from swerving endless budget meetings and the rush hour commute) is the freedom to drop everything for an impromptu visit to Bicester Village. And so my London Fashion Week of shows and soirees ended with a jaunt to Oxfordshire hosted by the Bicester Village online team. Continue reading →

This summer is shaping up to be quite the celebration of all things Italian. Prada’s IPO, Firenze4Ever and Versace dominated June, while so far, Masters of Style and Dolce & Gabbana (just launched their own etail site and now stocked at Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter) have taken over July. This weekend sees more Italia loving with the Ellesse heritage pop-up boutique (at 77 Redchurch St, E2) screening stylish Italian movie classics. Adding to the fun, Wah Nails will be on hand to add some suitably colourful cheer to your nails with a special menu of Ellesse-inspired designs (above).

In other nail news, the one woman dynamo that is Sophy Robson has only gone and developed a range of nail art in collaboration with OPI and Sephora! There are also nail art ‘recipes’ and how-to videos as part of the package. How ‘wow’ are these cherry blossom nails?